The most current knowledge suggests that the locked bookshelves do not have a key, nor can the lock be picked. However, they can be unlocked using the console command "unlock", selecting the bookcase within the command console to get the code, then typing it in. These seem to contain the same books that are already available around the library.

There is also an "Investigators chest" with a master lock. It contains four ornamental rings that are needed to complete a quest that involves a Daedra summoning ritual in the Midden Dark.

If the Dragonborn has the Elder Scroll, it can be given to Urag gro-Shub. Whenever it is given, there is no way the player can retrieve it again until Dawnguard.

In The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard, the Elder Scroll may be re-purchased, as part of the main quest, for 4000 (2000 if the Dragonborn is the Arch-Mage).

Contents

The books inside the Arcanaeum were made after the Second Era. Most of them are old, but well-preserved, because of Urag gro-Shub. Without him, it is likely that some of the books would no longer exist. Through the centuries, many books have come and gone, but many still remain. Urag tries to keep as much knowledge available to the mages as he can and takes his job very seriously.[2]